Dunback to Bluff

We arrived at the rally site, an old school camp to discover that our request for a two man cabin had been lost in cyber space, as had Tim and Beate’s so we were sharing a cabin. Not a major problem – except for Tim’s ability to snore so suitable bribes were offered to Josie and Maree and Tim and Beate moved into their cabin and Marty got to spend the weekend sleeping with three women. Don’t believe anything he says about having a dull boring life!!


Day one of the rally was pretty cold and miserable so we all decided to make it a
rest day and laze around the camp. Beate and I went canoeing and managed to find a few blackberries to munch on along the bank and later in the afternoon small group of us went for a walk so that we could have dessert without feeling guilty.

The sun returned the next day so the girls plus Hugh went on a bit of a sight seeing ride leaving the others behind to supervise the repairs being done by Ivan to his
rather sick Vincent. We headed to Moeraki Boulders via Trotters Gully. These huge
marble like stones lying on the beach make quite an impressive sight at low tide. We stopped in Morakei Township for coffee at an ‘award winning’ café only to have the waitress forget to give all of us our change. Luckily once the caffeine had hit Josie realized so we all queued up for our change. No apology was offered so we decided we wouldn’t be making a return visit there anytime soon.

We headed off to Shag Point in the hope of seeing some Fur Seals and we weren’t disappointed and were lucky enough to see some babies playing in a pool as well as adults fighting and jostling for the sunniest spot. We were offered some fresh blue cod by some local fishermen (actually woman) but as none of us had a suitable carrying vessel we had to decline. There was no way I was putting unwrapped fresh fish in my topbox!!

The afternoon ride saw us all head inland to a little town called Naseby. A beautiful road, sweeping corners, great scenery and next to no traffic. As we arrived the boys were just coming out of the local pub. They had come up earlier to a friend’s workshop to get a repair done on a part from Ivan’s motor. We had enough time to have a coffee before heading back to Dunback. Naseby has just opened the only ice luge in the Southern Hemisphere and is proving to be very popular. Maybe we can try it out next time we are there.

It was great catching up with everyone at the rally but it was time to push on with our trip. After much discussion about which route to take we decided to go via Macraes Flat and the Middlemarch Road, regroup at Outram then head to Mosgiel and back onto State Highway 1. We had all studied the map and decided that this route was all sealed so everyone would be happy. We either all need stronger glasses or lessons in map reading as a few kilometers after we turned onto the Middlemarch road it said “Gravel road next 25kms”. As we each passed the sign we all thought of Josie and wondered how she was coping. We caught up with her, Beate and Maree about half way through and all were making slow, steady progress. At the summit the mist rolled in and there was not much visibility so all eyes were on the gravel in front. We discovered later that had we gone onto Hyde and then turned towards Middlemarch we would have had seal all the way but we would have missed out on some truly stunning scenery. We were all getting low on fuel by the time we reached Outram but despite it being a long weekend not a gas station in sight was open so we headed to Mosgiel with fingers crossed that those with small fuel tanks would make it. They did so with oil and fuel replenished we all headed towards Milton where we had a planned lunch stop. Hugh and Josie were a little late arriving as they had missed the turnoff for Invercargill and found themselves heading towards Dunedin.


At Balclutha we turned towards the coast so we could follow the Southern Scenic route to Invercargill. We had a straight run through to Papatowai as the weather was looking a bit foul. Our first night in tents and our first night of RAIN. We did

however manage to get in a nice walk along the beach and up to the store to get our fish and chips before the rain arrived. We had a hilarious night in the camp kitchen
trying to do a crossword found in the fish and chip paper. Other campers cooking their meals even offered answers when ours became so weird and off beam.



The rain had disappeared by the morning so Josie, Maree, Beate and I headed off
before the others as we wanted to go and have a look at the Cathedral Caves which are only accessible at low tide. We got there only to find that they were closed as the weather and sea conditions were too rough and the caves were inaccessible. Disappointing but nothing we could do about it so we headed to the nearest café which was at Niagara about 10kms down the road. (these pics of the cave were taken on a previous visit by Marty and I ).

Recharged we set off for Curio Bay and the Petrified Forest. This is a unique
example of a fossilized forest with imprints of fallen trees and ferns from 180million years ago. Like the caves it is only visible at low tide. Occasionally you can see the endangered yellow eyed penguin but it was the wrong time of day for us. The best chance to see them is at night when they come into nest. From the lookout we could see the others having lunch at Popoise Bay so we rode down and joined them. Last time Marty and I were here we saw a pod of hector dolphins surfing in the waves but we weren’t so lucky this time.

Tim, Beate, Marty and I decided that we wanted to ride to Slope Point, the most southerly point on the South Island. The gravel road leading to it put the others


off so we agreed to meet them at Bluff later that afternoon. Derspite a couple of hairy moments we all made it safely to the lighthouse and had our photo taken for prosperity then made the final push for Bluff and a celebratory drink with the others. It has been a great ride so far. Marty, Maree and I stayed with friends in a Bluff while the others camped in the local campground. We had to force ourselves to eat the fresh paua and blue cod that Paul and Margie cooked for our tea. A tough job but someone had to do it.




Paul is a Tugboat Captain (actually I think his title is a little grander than that)and as he had to take the tug out that night to reposition a cargo ship he invited us along. Marty declined but Maree and I went and had a great time although I didn’t particularly like climbing up and down the ladder to get on and off the boat. Maree being ex navy found it a piece of old doddle.

So far we have traveled just over 2200 miles and tomorrow we begin the return journey.